The Game of Love
by Edward Foster
Summary: Mac gets a crash course in Video Games from Goo when Foster's gets new arcade games. Oneshot.


**A/N: _Ciao! Come state tutti?_ That's "Hello, how are you all?" in Italian, I'm taking a class...anyway if you haven't read the first version, you're in luck! This is the reformed, nice and new Version, No more giant chunks for me, at least I'll try harder to do it right the first time, so if you like it give a review and let me know if there's anything you'd like to see done, more chapters of something or something new entirely...I finally got a little time.**

**So I hope you enjoy this cutesy, mushy, 'so sweet it'll make you gag' Fic! **

~/~

A Groan of dismay rang out through one of the hallways of Foster's, coming from one of the only door slightly open. Inside, Mac flopped down on his bed, letting his controller fall from his hands.

"Ugh, oh my god, this game is just impossible!" He complained, the rainbow-clad girl next to him leaned over to look him in the eyes,

"Aw come on, it's your first time playing. You're bound to mess up." She said cheerily, Mac rolled his eyes,

"Yeah, that's a confidence booster." He mumbled sullenly, Goo frowned at him.

"Why do ya hafta be such a downer, Mac? I mean, you're always so quick to see the bad in everything." Mac sat up, crossing his arms at her comment.

"I do not, it's just we've been playing this game for almost two and a half hours, and I can't get past the first level." He let his head slump on a near-by pillow, Goo turned off the game and switched back to basic cable. She walked back to the bed that Mac had taken refuge on, and pulled on a lock of his hair.

"Ouch, what was that for?" He rubbed his head. Goo sat back down on the edge,

"You need to lighten up; it's just a game after all." She said pointedly.

Mac sat up fully and smiled, "Yeah, guess you're right" Goo grinned triumphantly,

"I know I am, but what do you want to do now?" Mac took a long breath and thought for a second, before he could respond, their door swung open and marched in were a beaming redhead and a bouncing blue blob.

"Guys, you have to see what Mr. Herriman got for the house!" the excited blob practically screamed, Frankie grabbed him before he pounced on them.

"You guys have to see this, it's so cool." She said, they both exchanged confused glances for a few moments, for too long in fact, Bloo groaned,

"Look, you two can make kissy face later, but come on!" He wiggled out of Frankie's grip and tugged onto his creator's shirt sleeve. With surprising strength, Bloo managed to lift Mac off the bed and onto the floor, and then drag him out the door. Goo was about to act when she too was lifted off her feet and rushed out the door.

"Wait...guys...don't-ah! Hey watch it!" Mac yelled, Goo could hear him up ahead, she also saw groups of imaginary friends all heading in the same direction, talking in excited tones.

"Did you hear about them?" one said,

Goo heard another "-they were in the Arcade..."

And another, "New games are awesome..." After some time, all four of them made it down to the Arcade where Mac and Goo were finally put down, or in Mac's case picked up. They saw Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman stationed outside of the doorway.

"Oh there you all are, I was wondering if Miss Frances and Master Blooregard had found you or not." Herriman stated as he stacked what looked like order forms, Goo was the first to speak,

"Okay, what in the world is going on, what's all this about?" she asked the two, Herriman adjusted his monocle,

"Why progress, my dear! A step forward into the future of entertainment."

The Madame followed up on the bunny's over excess, "The old Arcadia theme park closed down, and since the manager of that place is a good friend of mine, she decided to 'lose' some of the games here at Foster's"

Goo's eyes sparked, "You mean the top-of-the-line videogames from Arcadia...They're here!" Goo needed no second bidding, she burst through the doors and ran into the slight glow of the room, and Mac wasn't too behind,

"Goo, wait up!" he cried after her,

Behind him were Frankie, Bloo, and a flood of Imaginary friends. Even Herriman crept off to play his favorite pastime, Carrot Crusades.

~/~

Mac searched high and low for his friends, getting distracted ever so often by the many new games that glowed, beeped, and hummed in the vast Arcade. He finally came across his blue best friend playing on one of the machines; Mac had never seen him so focused, he checked the title.

"Paddle Ball Power 3?" he said aloud, Bloo nodded, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"You wanna play?" he said quickly.

Mac scratched his head, "Uh...no, but I was wondering...did Goo run by here?"

Bloo snorted, "Oh her? Yeah, she nearly made me lose my game, crazy little...anyway, she went that way."

He pointed a stubby nub to his right, Mac gave his blobby friend one last look before moving on. Not shortly after, he spotted a red pony tail in the mist of Imaginary friends crowded around a game; He pushed to the front and saw Frankie playing a plastic guitar to Three Days Grace's Riot. Mac watched in awe as she finished up the song with a five star rating, he grabbed her controller before she started another set.

"Hey, what are you...Oh Mac, did you want to try it."

Mac shook his head, "No, look, did Goo pass by here; I'm trying to find her?"

Frankie turned back to the screen, a slight frown on her face, "Yeah, she 'passed by' alright, nearly fried the game with that score she put up, knocked me right off the board. Can you believe it?" she asked him in slight disbelief.

He shuffled from foot to foot anxiously, "Yeah, unbelievable. Right, where did she go after?" he asked in a rushed tone,

Frankie put her index finger on her chin, "Uh...I think she went that way." She pointed straight forward, passed her machine, deeper into the Arcade.

Mac sighed in relief "Thanks Frankie!" He yelled as she started her next song, Straight Jacket-Keel Hauled by The Fall of Troy. After what felt like a whole hour of searching, Mac finally found another large crowd of friends around a large machine with a platform and loud techno music bursting out, it sounded foreign. Up on the platform was Goo, dancing to the fast tempo beat, He stared at how complex the dance moves were on screen and how she matched them perfectly, like she was a part of the game itself.

"What is this...?" Mac mumbled, somehow one of the friends heard him,

"It's the newest Dancing game, Dance Party 5, the most difficult game to master, they say, but it looks almost easy when she's up there." Mac waited til the song finished before pushing through the applauding crowd,

"Goo! Hey, Goo!" Mac yelled to her, she turned and smiled when she saw him; she ran over and wrapped him in a hug,

"Mac, did ya see? Was I good?"

Mac was about to just say yes, but he saw the slight hope in her eyes, "You were amazing, I've never seen anyone do that before, I certainly couldn't do it."

As soon as he said that, he knew he should have kept his mouth shut because a few seconds later he was up on that platform with her as she selected the next song,

"Goo, I really don't want to do this, I'm no good at games like this." Mac whispered to her.

She huffed, "There you go being all negative again, c'mon it'll be fun, and I'll help you."

She selected a song Mac had never heard before, House Music by Benny Bennasi. Mac gulped hard as the song loaded, he glanced over at Goo, she met eyes with him and smiled, she mouthed the word 'Ready?', he could only shrug at the question as the song started, the quick beat caught him off guard as the characters on the screen moved, Mac tried his hardest to keep up, but he seemed to be two steps behind, that's when he felt a hand grip his, and Goo was directing his body to the rhythm of the song, Mac saw that others had grouped around them, Bloo, Frankie, Herriman and Madame Foster. Goo had brought him close for a second, she whispered in his ear,

"Don't worry about them, and just focus on me."

Mac's ear tingled from her breath, he kept his eyes trained on hers as the song continued, he surprised himself on how well he was doing, the audience was cheering and clapping in unison with the beat. Then the song required them to split, Mac got worried as he followed the male avatar to the tee, eyes widening when he realized he didn't miss a step. Then they came together for the last bars of the song, Mac grabbing her by the waist and bringing her close to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, they froze like that as the song ended, when the game called them forward for their scores, they were wrapped up in each other, they quickly unlinked and turned to check the screen.

First up was the Female Avatar, Goo stepped forward; the score went up higher til it peaked at 11,002,343. She'd been given an AAA grade, Goo hopped up and down with joy; she'd beaten her high score. Next was the Male Avatar, Mac's score sky-rocketed to his astonishment to a ridiculous 109,345,324, with a SS grade, Mac heard the roar of the crowd in his ears, he couldn't believe it. Then the machine dimmed as two golden lights sparked on screen, they were two crowns that fell on the Avatars heads as Dance Queen and Dance King Flashed on screen. Goo squealed in delight, grabbing Mac by the arm, turning to the crowd and bowing, he bowed along with her, hopping no one saw him shaking in pure terror.

~/~

The night had finally come to a close at around two in the morning, Mac and Goo had been congratulated ten times over before they headed up for the night. They walked the empty halls to their rooms,

"Wasn't that amazing?" Goo asked out of the blue, Mac looked up and chuckled,

"Yeah that was sure something, but hey, we got the highest scores on the game." He said, still in awe over the past event.

Goo nodded, "Yeah...but can I tell you a secret?"

Mac looked at her quizzically,"Yeah, sure."

Goo blushed a little, "I was scared out of my mind up there." She mumbled.

Mac's eyes widened, "What really? But you looked so confident dancing."

Goo leaned against her door, "Yeah, well I was so afraid that I guess it helped me concentrate, it was a breath of fresh air when you found me."

Mac was genuinely shocked, "Well to be honest, I was pretty scared too, I'm no good at video games remember?" Mac rubbed the back of his neck, and leaned on his door.

"Well, Goodnight Dance King." Goo Giggled,

Mac sighed and rolled his eyes. "Goodnight, my Dance Queen." He did a small bow, when he raised his head, Goo's lips connected with his, Mac froze for a quick second before giving in, deepening the kiss by gently caressing her face. When they broke, Goo smiled, giving him another peck on the lips before opening her door and slipping in halfway,

"Thanks, we'll have to play again sometime." She said quietly before shutting her door, Mac crossed the hallway to his door, only thing on his mind was investing in a game system, and dancing lessons.

~/~


End file.
